Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Office of the Vice President for Research. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Location:
Iowa State University, Beardshear Hall, Office of the Vice President for Research

Object Number: U2015.7

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From a distance, Thomas Jewell-Vitale's abstract works do not seem abstract. Harmonious colors and soft textures invite the viewer with a sense of familiarity and comfort. Close up, the viewer studies the images expecting to see something more apparent. One feels, indeed, that something is there, only thinly concealed and slightly below the surface, waiting to be known. Thomas writes: "I make paintings in which shapes are tied intimately to their surroundings...Their edges are not fixed boundaries, but fingers which probe, revealing a myriad of allegiances: hiding, nestling, isolated, adrift, consumed..." (Olson Larson Galleries)